(By the way...we celebrated one year on Okinawa today! It has sure flown by.)
We were all eager to get home and carry out our Stuart family Christmas Eve tradition...the gift exchange! Many years ago...6 or 7...we started drawing names among our family members so that everyone could have the experience of buying gifts for each other with their own money, but they didn't have to buy for everyone. (5 gifts is a lot!) We draw names early in December and let the scheming and planning begin.
The youngest got to give his gift first...then it went up the family chain.
A watch! And a nice one, too. Jake really went above and beyond.
Coree got Patrick...
Brazilian Ju-Jitsu instructional DVDs. Patrick loved them!
Patrick got Troy the movie "Taken". Totally intense. He'll be watching that one when the younger kids have gone to bed, for sure!
Troy got Jake...
A cocoon of Scotch tape.
Nice! Isn't brotherly love special?
Wow...a handbook of guns. As if Jake doesn't already know everything about every weapon the military has ever issued? Well...this will be great review.
(OK...is it just me...or is there a "violence" theme going on with the boys' gifts this year? Nice Christmas theme, guys.)
And Mom got Coree...
A Woody doll! With requisite floppy legs AND a bonus removable hat!
(Trivia: Troy and Patrick were preschoolers when the first Toy Story movie came out. Troy had everything Buzz and Patrick had everything Woody. When Coree was a little tike, she inherited Patrick's Woody doll. She loved him and took him everywhere. When she was 5, I figured it was safe to toss the Woody doll, as he had seen better days. I was wrong. She has never forgiven me. He was like $1.99 from Burger King, with purchase. He was small and didn't even have a removable hat...but Coree loved his floppy legs.)
Love at first sight.
Cliffie got me...a book about "It's a Wonderful Life" (my favorite movie of all time since I was in 7th grade). Pricetag fail. Head-palm. Made for a great laugh, though.
It was Patrick's turn for scripture reading, but we broke from our usual reading and Patrick read from Luke 2.
I always love this part.
(sorry to break the reverent mood...but can you see where I stopped painting in the back? I just decorated right over it. Nice, huh?)
Family prayer and hugs all around...and then headed to bed so "Santa" can come.
(But not before I snap this goofy pic.)
Wow, and they posed for a nice one, too!
We thought we were so clever getting everything wrapped at the fundraiser so we could get to bed early...but since we stayed so late at the LaBancs, we were still up till 2.
Then I had to sneak out and get these pics of all "Santa's" hard work. The stockings are hung...on our "ghetto" hangers with stock photos still displayed.
Still didn't get to that fish stocking I've been meaning to make for the cat, darn it...or the matching Stuart tartan stockings for the rest of the family, for that matter.
Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night!
No comments:
Post a Comment